1. Field of the Invention
The present invention generally relates to electronic mail systems and, more particularly, the invention relates to a method, an article of manufacture and apparatus for providing a historical view of an electronic mail (e-mail) message.
2. Background of the Related Art
In today""s electronic mail (e-mail) environment, many users either reply or forward the entire contents of a received e-mail message. This xe2x80x9creply with historyxe2x80x9d feature is used to communicate the flow of ideas to many people. However, the use of the reply with history feature often leads to e-mail containing very large chains of component messages.
The recipient of this e-mail usually requires additional time to search and determine the important portions or sections within the very large chains of component messages. When a particular user receives many of these e-mails with large chains of component messages, then the extra time spent searching and determining important sections of these e-mails results in lost time and productivity in a business environment.
Therefore, a need exists in the art for a method, an article of manufacture and apparatus for displaying electronic mail chains in an efficient manner.
The present invention provides a method, an article of manufacture and apparatus for providing a historical view or map of an electronic mail (e-mail) message that includes a chain of component sections or messages. Specifically, the invention provides a method, as well as a concomitant apparatus and article of manufacture of providing a historical view of an electronic mail message having a plurality of sections comprising opening the electronic mail message, identifying the plurality of sections in the opened electronic mail message and displaying the historical view having a plurality of identifiers; where each identifier in the plurality of identifiers is provided for each section in the identified plurality of sections.
In another aspect of the invention, a method for viewing an electronic mail message having a plurality of sections comprises opening the electronic mail message; determining the plurality of sections in the opened electronic mail message; displaying a historical view having a plurality of identifiers, wherein each identifier in the plurality of identifiers is provided for each section in the determined plurality of sections; and activating at least one identifier in the plurality of identifiers to view the determined plurality of sections associated with the plurality of identifiers that are activated.
In still another aspect of the invention, a method for altering a historical view upon sending an electronic mail message comprises opening a historical view associated with an electronic mail message; selecting portions of the historical view that are to be contained in a new electronic mail message; and creating said new electronic mail message comprising a historical view containing the selected portions of the historical view. In one embodiment, the historical view comprises a plurality of identifiers, wherein each identifier in the plurality of identifiers is provided for each section in of an electronic mail message. The identifiers may comprise user identification and subject information.
In yet another aspect of the invention, a method of creating an electronic mail message comprises receiving a first electronic mail message comprising at least one historical section; creating a second electronic mail message; and creating a historical view for said second electronic mail message comprising identifiers representing said at least one historical section.